Outer Banks the End

Our last day in Duck was spent at the beach.  The weather warmed up a bit on Sunday so we were able to go on walks, tour the town, and spend most of our day at the beach.  There were lots of people on the beach but no one in the water.  It was nice having a warm day and not getting burnt to a crisp or have to worry about the little ones getting too much sun.  Lillia played in the sand the whole time, Jonah played with an older boy and ran around, and Tim and Mark flew the kite.  We played a little football, volleyball and enjoyed each others company!

Ready for the beach!!!

Loved flying the kite with Dad. This was such a sweet shot I am so happy I got!

This little boy was enjoying playing with Jonah and Jonah was so intrigued with him.  Jonah did not want to sit and play in the sand.  He ran all around the beach non-stop.

The crew

This is Julie's first time to fly a kite.  Yes, you heard me right.  So we of course had to get a picture.  Oh those Canadians!!!

Lillia loved the sand.  She sat the whole time we were there and just played with all her sand toys, so sweet.

Tim was playing this little game with Jonah in the stroller.  Tim would bounce him and bring him down and Jonah was loving it.

We wanted to stop at this seafood store on our back from Duck last year, but Jonah was sleeping and we didn't want to wake him.  Well this time he was awake so we got to stop!!  We purchased some yummy shrimp, scallops, and flounder.  And ate lunch here out the little food truck on the side of the road.  The food was amazing and Jonah was happy for a little break from the car.  He was liking his sunglasses so we had to get some pictures.

                            

Outer Banks The Middle

The Second day we were in Duck we took at little trip up to Corolla, which is about 20 minutes from where we were staying.  We toured Currituck Lighthouse, let the kids run around, napped, went to the beach, and ate some yummy seafood.  It is always a little challenging when you travel with children.  Especially when they are both under two.  Jonah woke up a couple of times throughout the night and then was up at 5, and then they were both on different nap schedules.  But you have to be flexible and we still had a great time.

 Good Morning Kisses from Jonah to Lillia.  They play pretty well together most of the time.  Jonah does some pushing, but Lillia holds her own.  We are still working on discipline, gentle, love, sweet.  It's an ongoing process!

 Currituck Lighthouse.  Tim and I visited here last year, but were too cheap to climb to the top.  This year we said yes and are so glad we did.  The climb was fun (a little scary for me) and the view was amazing.

 This picture is a little bit dark but this is from the bottom up to the top.  It was really neat and a very safe climb for the kids.

 Do you see Jonah's arm on Lillia.  This is how it went Jonah reaches out for her.  Gentle but enough force for a little love tap.

And Lillia is quick and on it.  She got that arm out too and then they went on about their own business.  They don't know it yet, but someday they will be madly in love and the pushing will just have been a phase.

 Julie and Lills!

We finally made it to the top.  I was a little bit nervous with Jonah running around.  There was railing all around, but Tim and I took turns looking around to make sure he was with one of us at all times.

 Once again I was trying out the manual setting and the aperture was too light.  I couldn't get it adjust to the right setting.  It was kind of neat how light it turned out, but not to perfection like I would like it.  One of these days I hope.

Outer Banks the Beginning

We were able to take a long weekend with some of our best friends to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  I feel like I have lived here long enough and can say we went to the OBX ,the hipster, slang, I'm cool and know what I'm talking about way to say  outer banks if you are from here or have visited.  Ok I really don't feel that cool saying it, but that is how the "locals" or someone along those lines would call the outer banks.  I don't really care if that is how you say it or not I just wanted to share some pictures of the great time we had with the Joserps.  We decided to call our trip the Joserps Adventure!  Tim and I went to Duck (where we stayed) last year and fell in love with it.  We stayed at a great kid friendly place with it's own pool, tennis courts, b-ball courts, and a short walk to the beach.  We have decided we want to make this a yearly trip as long as we are in the area.  They have a really cool boardwalk with lots of cute beach shops, fun places to eat, and lots to do and see.  This year we changed it up by taking some friends along!

We broke the trip up a little bit and stopped in at the Aquarium on Roanoke Island.  Jonah loved the fish and was very happy to be free and running around!

He also loved the alligators and turtles.  He liked to look at them from a distance safe in Daddy's arms!

 Finishing off Daddy's ice cream made this little boy pretty happy.

 Unfortunately the weather was not that nice.  It was very windy and cold.  We got to go to the beach Sunday because it finally warmed up a little bit, but not warm enough to get in the water.

And this my friends is a fierce game of Settler's Of Catan.  Mark and Julie are a bit new to the game but I think they gave it a thumbs up, well they pretty much were addicted.  We played both nights we were there and stayed up until midnight!!  And they wanted more!  It was a bit rough when Jonah Bear was up at 5 both mornings.  But it was totally worth it.

Puddle Jumping

It has been pretty rainy here.  But at least it rains and then does clear up so we can have some outside time.  Jonah loves, loves, loves water.  And whenever it rains there is a nice little puddle all along the street.  He couldn't be happier, pushing his trucks and cars, or splashing through the water.  We sometimes go through a couple outfits a day, but thats ok it makes him happy and it makes me happy to see how much fun he is having.  Pretty soon he will just be living in his swim trunks!

 He was pretty interested in the water dripping from the gutter.  So he had to check it out.

"Hey Mom do you see me going down the slide on my feet? "  A little bit of a mischievous look there.

 Still pretty interested in the sand table.  Sometimes more sand ends up in trucks and on the ground but thats ok it's easy to clean up!

Then we got pretty interested in the mail man.  We are usually outside when the mail man comes and Jonah loves to say hi and wave to the driver.  He yells "fruck, fruck"  yes that is how he says truck!!  I will be working on that one!

And waving hello and goodbye.

Then when we were tired of playing with the small truck we found the big one and this entertained us even longer.